Hexadecimals are comprised of alphanumerical combinations that relate to RGB values.
Why is this an important step in deconstructing digital images?
Hexadecimals are a code that computers use to break down information into a binary language, which is how computers store information. The thing you are seeing on your screen that represents the photograph is the interpretation of such data into objects, color, composition, etc. Showing the hexadecimal make-up of a photograph is one way to show the procedural break-down of any digital image into a computer-native format. Unless you are working in pure analog, this is the “material” make-up of any photo you are looking at. It’s no longer text, image, object. It’s something like; text/image, object.